Life Goes On
by DarkHonour
Summary: ONE-SHOT Archer returns to Fuyuki city after his farewell with Rin. How would he face his reality with his newly-found former determination? Spoiler alert.


Pre-note:

Hi! It's been a long hiatus since I've stepped back into writing some fanfiction actually. This time I'll be doing on fate/stay night so please give me your guidance!

Anyway, this story is a deviant storyline which explores what happens to Archer after his departure from the UBW canon. And I'd like to thank the Youtube videos for providing me with the canonical data.

The song is taken from Mika Arisaka's [Life Goes On] and yes, it's an ending song for Gundam Seed Destiny.

And to all the readers, I thank you once again for reading this one-shot!

Disclaimer: fate/stay night and all its related media are property of TYPE-MOON. I hereby thank them here for writing this story which got the best story of 2007.

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**Life Goes On**

'Archer,' the girl paused, her hands clutching the cross-like pattern on her red sweater. 'Form a contract with me again.'

The white-haired servant looked back at his former master who averted her gaze. He knew for sure, that Rin was doing something that was not beneficial to herself. He turned his head to look at the unconscious boy on the ground.

His flow of time was different from Rin's, as he had always known.

'I cannot do that. I do not know if you will keep your contract with Saber,' his words of rejection reached her ears. 'But I'm not qualified for that.'

Her eyes widened. Even though she was aware that her eyes were diluted with tears that it seemed like they were shaking, the successor of the Tohsaka family knew that she must not act immature.

'And I don't have a goal anymore,' Archer continued. 'My battle ends here.'

That reply, with his doubt-free tone, filled her with the feeling of letting go.

'...But! But...you....' her voice trailed off, searching for the right word to utter.

'...won't be saved.'

Archer reciprocated with a short smirk.

'I do not have any attachment to this world,' he responded.

He could not delude the female magus in front of him. Not only were their flows of time different, they were from parallel worlds too.

'...Rin,' he blurted out after a short moment of silence between the two of them. Her eyes moved up to meet his. For that moment, her almost-teary face was overwhelming his heart. Knowing what he must do, Archer turned to look at the unconscious boy a distance away. In his eyes, this boy was now like a bright beacon of hope.

'Please take care of me. I think you know, but I am unreliable.'

Rin thought for a moment. She understood his intents. Archer was doing this for her own good though he knew he wanted to get out of this vicious cycle of being a counter-guardian.

'Ar...cher...'

She nodded. It was her duty to guide Shirou away from the future doom facing him. And not into the adult Shirou who was standing before her.

'I'll do my best,' she exclaimed back. 'I'll make sure that he'll like himself!'

Rin noticed that her former servant was beginning to dematerialise.

'I found my answer,' he smiled back at her. It was a rare smile that he had ever worn throughout his stewardship to the Tohsaka successor. 'It's fine Tohsaka. I'll do my best from now on as well.'

A small breeze blew. A speck of dirt fell into Rin's left eye causing her to squint. When she opened them, nothing stood in front of her.

She smiled back.

'Heh,' she chuckled. 'I never got to complain to you.'

A trail of tears rolled down her cheek. Wiping it away, she ran over to the present Shirou she knew. The smile that Archer had gave her was now etched permanently in her heart.

***

The red-clad counter-guardian, now longer in servitude for the moment, felt the silence of his surroundings around him.

'Emiya...' a trailing voice was whispered into his ears.

It was no point to open his eyes. He was in a pitch-black void as what his ears had identified for him. A familiar voice was calling out to him.

'Emiya...' the voice repeated itself.

'You have a message from Akasha?' He called out to the feminine sounding echo.

'Your job with your past is done,' the voice responded. 'Have you learnt anything out of it?'

Archer thought for a while. He produced a smirk.

'I, Emiya Shirou, have found back my own strength,' he answered.

'That's good,' it was a heart-warming voice that would give anyone peace in their heart when they heard it. 'You have served well as a servant too, Emiya.'

'For a righteous person like you,' the voice continued. 'Akasha would like to keep you as a counter-guardian but...'

Archer waited patiently for the voice to respond. Uncountable periods of time ago, this was the same voice whom he had formed a contract with to become a counter-guardian who would prevent the events leading to the danger of humanity.

'Will you accept yourself and live life again?'

'I'm ready to serve eternally as a counter-guardian,' he retorted back at the voice. 'I know now where my true determination really lied.'

'Open your eyes, Emiya,' the voice requested. Archer could feel a bright light glaring at his face. As he slowly opened them, the scenery of bright clouds and a shiny sun against a backdrop of azure hues greeted him.

He looked at every angle where his eyes could see. He was in material form again. As he looked in the distance, he saw a familiar spot. He stepped out of the shade where he was formerly at.

A cool breeze blew through his long red coat and shuffled through his white hair.

Archer begin his steps towards that designated place.

The counter-guardian was armed with a bunch of daisies. He was back in Fuyuki city, which still continued to look the same from the days he served as a servant for his master.

An image of the double ponytail girl emerged in his mind. He stopped his tracks in front of a stone monument. No, it was a grave.

The plot of land designated to this group of graves was bounded by a wooden fence made of several beams of bamboo poles.

The entrance to it had a large signboard which wrote 'TOHSAKA'.

Archer crept down and took a stalk of flower to the grave.

_I can feel your heart in motion_

'Rin.'

_Deep down in your mind and passion_

'It's been a while,' he spoke softly to himself, knowing it was stupid to talk to himself. But he could feel how she was watching over him.

_Namida de nijinda kono sora wo miageru tabi_

_(Every time I look up into the tear-filled sky)_

As he turned his head to face the heavens, an image of Rin appeared before him. Not just any image, but a smiling image of her.

'Emiya-kun...' he could imagine her voice echoing in his mind.

'I'll live out my life as you wanted me to at where you left.'

Archer got up and turned his head to another grave.

_Hakanai aosa ga mune wo shimezuketeku_

_(A fickle wave of blue binds my chest)_

'Sakura.'

He took a stalk and placed it on the soft soil before her gravestone. He could feel her gentleness as he looked back at her final resting place.

'Senpai...' her voice echoed within too.

'Rest in peace, Mato-, no, Tohsaka Sakura.'

_Sadame nara kanashimi no hate made_

_(If it's destiny, I will leave behind the days)_

Archer knew that it was impossible to change the past even though he could go back and tried to kill his past. But he knew now that he had done a good deed instead.

His legs brought him to the next grave outside the Tohsaka family.

The stone borne the surname of Fujimura.

'Sensei, I do hope you're doing well somewhere,' his hand brought another daisy stalk to rest on the soil of Fujimura Taiga's grave.

_Tatakaitsuzuketa hibi wo ato ni_

_(That I've fought till the end of sorrow)_

An image of Fujimura-sensei acting like a child materialised in his mind. Though she was no longer around, these funny scenes of her disturbing him before would emerge in his memories.

_Life goes on moeagaru_

_(Life goes on, passionately)_

_Inochi ga aru kagiri_

_(As long as I'm alive)_

'Rest in peace, sensei,' he gave his final words, walking to another grave.

_Shinjitsu no jibun sae miushinaisou soredemo_

_(Even if I were to lose sight of my real self)_

_Life goes on mamoritakute_

_(Life goes on and I want to protect it)_

The person whom he had always helped out was now lying in a grave before him. Issei had always depended on him to repair the different electronics.

He placed a daisy stalk on the tombstone.

_Kokoro wo kudakarete_

_(My heart was shattered)_

_Hontou no kanashimi wo shitta hitomi wa_

_(And in these eyes that have seen true sorrow)_

'Looks like I don't have any chance to meet you anymore, Issei,' Archer talked to the grave.

Through those battle-weary eyes of his, the counter-guardian was now enlightened, just like how a lost sheep had found its way back.

_Ai ni afurete_

_(Love is overflowing)_

As he looked back at the Tohsaka graves, he could feel another breeze blow by him. He knew, deeply, that this was Rin's answer to him. And that was to move on.

That was what she told him with her blood-choked voice then. And also the same moment his ideals were smashed like a piece of glass.

'Life goes on,' he muttered to himself. 'Emiya Shirou.'

As he began to walk out of the cemetery, he felt he was satisfied. But that was not all.

'Emiya-kun!'

He suddenly turned back upon hearing a familiar voice.

THE END

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Afternote: Sorry about the ending! I'd wanted to show in the end why Archer came to become so disillusioned in his alternate timeline.

Review if it's weird, interesting, funny or anything!


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